Hydration Vests: Why Should You Wear One

Over a long and demanding run, individuals need to stay hydrated in order to perform to the best of their abilities. Throughout a run, your body loses fluids through sweating and breathing. Rehydrating during a run is vitally important to prevent dehydration, keeping cool, and ensures your body keeps performing optimally. Dehydration can potentially be life-threatening as a lack of fluid affects the thickness of the blood, the body’s ability to dump heat through sweating causing heatstroke, and seizures due to lack of electrolyte balance.

In order to prevent dehydration while running, many turn to the use of a hydration vest. The bladder in hydration vests normally holds 2L of water which eliminates the need for 2-3 water bottles. The bladder sits in a pack giving you extra room for gear, gels and consumables. The pack sits on your back with equal weight distribution resulting in a natural feel, so you have both arms free with the weight of the water not sitting on your hands or on your hips. Broad shoulder straps prevent chaffing and discomfort, which lets you enjoy the run and your surroundings even more.

With all of this in mind, Arc’teryx has created the Norvan 14 hydration vest. This vest was created in collaboration with the soft goods and hard goods team at Arc’teryx, pushing the boundaries of design for both durability and comfort. The vest is equipped with 12 Litres of storage space with a weather resistant roll top bag closure, as well as two zippered front pockets, 4 front mesh pockets (two 500ml soft flask slots) and two back mesh dump pockets with tension straps for poles. If you are not looking for storage, a down sized 7 version also exists with many of the same features with less bulk of the 14.

Vince, our product guide for the West Edmonton store, is pictured wearing the vest. He is an avid and frequent runner who explains that the fit “pulls into the body without movement while in motion, with the right amount of pressure”. He also experiences “no chaffing” as well as “minimal sway that eliminates excess motion from the bag itself”. To him, this bag is “super awesome”.